This invention relates generally to snow handling equipment, and in particular to an improved tractor-mounted apparatus which can be employed to pack snow into protective mounds around potentially dangerous obstacles, as well as to move snow from one location to another.
It is conventional practice in ski areas to encase potentially dangerous obstacles such as the legs of lift towers, light poles, etc. with specially designed protective pads. These pads are expensive, and because they are vulnerable to being damaged by ski poles, trail grooming equipment, etc., they must be replaced often, at a considerable cost to the operator of the ski area.
It is also known that the task of moving and handling snow is complicated in ski areas by a characteristically difficult terrain. More particularly, because of the relatively steep inclination of trails, access roads, etc., vehicular centers of gravity are shifted, thus making it much more difficult to maintain traction, particularly when the vehicles are being used to push or carry snow. This limits and sometimes precludes the use of conventional plows, front end loaders, etc. These problems are further aggravated by the need to maneuver between trees in the wooded areas which sometime border ski trails.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a tractor-mounted snow handling apparatus which can be employed to pack snow into protective mounds around potentially dangerous obstacles, thereby obviating the necessity to resort to expensive specially designed protective pads.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved tractor-mounted apparatus for moving snow from one location to another in a manner such that lifting is substantially avoided.
A further object of the present invention is the provision of a tractor-mounted snow moving apparatus which can be readily collapsed and expanded to facilitate maneuvering into and out of wooded areas when transferring snow from one location to another.